NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Monday, November 21, 2011

INCIDENTS

Ocmulgee NM

Arsonist Sentenced For Burning Park Building

The historic 1856 Dunlap House, site of the Civil War battle of Dunlap Hill in July 1864 and the Battle of Walnut Creek in November 1864, sustained approximately $250,000 in interior damage from an arson fire last February. D.D. was recently convicted on a related arson charge; he was sentenced to 20 years in prison and banned from all federal parks. D.D., who has a lifetime of felony convictions, had previously been incarcerated following numerous burglary convictions and was on parole when he burglarized the unoccupied park structure in the pre-dawn hours last February 9th. The building's smoke alarm was set off during the break in and it was saved from being a total loss by the rapid response of the Macon Fire Department. D.D., who was found at the scene by the firefighters, said that unknown persons with a Molotov cocktail had chased him into the building and set it on fire. The arson investigation refuted his story with definitive evidence of a pour pattern and accelerant employed at a specific point of ignition. Macon officers took D.D. into custody based on blood evidence acquired where he'd broken out a window pane to gain entry. The conviction was obtained through the park's close working relationship with Macon police and firefighters and county deputies and prosecutors. [Irv Brock, Park Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

Office of Communications - This year's National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony - the 89th since the tradition was begun by President Coolidge in 1923 - will take place on the Thursday after Thanksgiving. The ceremony marks the opening of a four-week event sponsored by the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation.

Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings, newly introduced bills, and the status of legislation of interest to the National Park Service. This summary covers the period from November 12th to November 18th.

Independence NHP - Frank Eidmann will retire from his position of special events coordinator at Independence on December 3rd.

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The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced with the support of the Office of the Assistant Director for Information Resources and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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